Monthly Archives: July 2016

Posting from Book 7 of The Academy of the Accord this month. Things are a bit tricky since some of this book runs concurrently with the end of Book 5 (and the start of Book 6) but focuses on a different student: Brythel. Like Yhonshel, Bry is a Tuanae, both wizard and Warder, and Yhonshel is his mentor and partner – they share a bond like that of a bonded wizard and Warder pair.

This hasn’t been edited yet so just pretend it’s good, okay?

Brythel (age 14 or 15 – I need to get a timeline together) went home for winter break. Unfortunately, his father caught him playing his lute (not a “manly” enough activity to suit him) and beat him severely. Brythel is trying to get home to the academy.

Picking up from last week with Brythel collapsed in a cold wet heap on the floor of the bathhouse.

Picking up a few paragraphs from last week. Wellhym and Kordelm have taken Brythel to the infirmary. (Valya is one of the healers.) Wellhym speaks first.

“I’m going to get Yhon. He should know.”

“Yhon should know what? That Bry is back? I already know that – I felt him come through the wards on the doors. But not through the ones on the gate,” Yhonshel added, frowning.

Wellhym stepped forward to meet him and wrapped his arms around him, holding him, blocking his view.

“What’s wrong?” Yhonshel’s voice was a gentle demand for answers.

“Bry’s been beaten. His stepfather.”

Anger flared in the eyes that met his and Wellhym shuddered as he felt the Tuanae’s muscles tighten; it was rare to see Yhonshel angry, and he would not want to be the man who had injured Brythel.

“I need to go to him.”

For a moment Wellhym wasn’t sure if he meant Brythel or his stepfather, but the anguish in the murky green eyes answered his question and he stepped aside, staying next to him as he joined the others at the table.

“Bry…” Yhonshel’s voice was choked but he drew a deep breath and calmed himself, reaching out to stroke his soaking wet hair.

Brythel immediately calmed, his body relaxing, and Valya smiled. “That will make healing go a lot faster,” she said. “Stay with him.”

“Do you need extra power?” Yhonshel asked.

“Your touch will do more than your magic or your grounding will.”

Yhonshel raised his head as if listening. “Draethlen just came into the castle.”

“Probably coming to check on Bry. He’s the one that found him,” Wellhym said.

“I’m not here,” Yhonshel said, and disappeared into an invisibility spell.

“Yhon?” Kordelm looked from where he had been to Wellhym and then the wizards, looking for an answer, but they were as bewildered as he was.

Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, bloggers, and readers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!). Check out all the other awesome snippets by clicking on the picture above.

Posting from Onyx Sun, a science fiction novel that is currently in revision and which I’m hoping to publish next month. (Those of you who participate in Sunday Snippets may remember parts of this.)

Taliya has coerced Maureena into telling her who she sold her lover to.

There may or may not be some creative punctuation involved in the following text.

“An off-worlder, part of a merchant fleet.” Maureena recovered her equilibrium. “I bought some wonderful Numali silk from another of the vendors for less than half the market value.”

Taliya drew a deep breath, her fists clenching, no longer caring if Maureena saw her struggle to control her temper. “When?”

“The day your grandmother died. I called the Slavers’ Consortium as soon as the death certificate was signed. Of course, I did ask her about payment first,” she added.

“Why didn’t you tell me you wanted money? I would have paid it.”

“I didn’t want you distracted during negotiations.”

“So if I hadn’t called to tell you we’d reached an agreement you wouldn’t have told me about Grandmother?”

When I wrote Monday’s blog post I was 7440 words below par for that day. I am now 1027 words above par for today and am only 2199 words away from 50K. I want to write more tonight (since I probably won’t get much time to write before work today) but I’m falling asleep in my chair and will probably go to bed as soon as I get this posted which is probably going to be around 3:30am.

I finished the minotaur story. It’s nowhere near novel length, and it seems to want to be part of the SeaWitch universe, but we’ll see. I’ve put it into the “Novels I’m Ignoring” folder (yes, that is its actual name) and will pull it out to revisit it after I finish SeaWitch (which won’t be for quite a while yet, considering that I have (what I hope are) final revisions to Onyx Sun to finish, and the first round editing and revising of the twelve books of The Academy of the Accord series to do (and a concordance/story bible to make for it) and a sequel (or two) to Song and Sword to plot and write. Oh, and a prequel for it too. And more stories in the Onyx Sun universe and a sequel to Sanguine and… *sigh*)

And I still haven’t won that lottery.

So, anyhow, the minotaur story left me 6422 words short of 50K, and still not enough time to look through other WiPs to find something to work on so I started yet another novel. Much like the minotaur story I had nothing to go on except the opening scene (and in this case a vague world premise as well), so I’m pantsing again, just like I did the minotaur story. This one is quite a bit more angsty at the moment but I’m still having fun with it. (Well, aside from the fact that none of the characters have names, and neither does anything else.) I might keep this one active to poke at until November.

Or not. I’m kind of looking forward to a break from writing to work on other crafts.

I’ll still be thinking about writing, but it will be nice to have some balance.

Welcome to Wednesday Words! Every Wednesday I will post some sort of prompt for a flash fiction piece. The prompt will go live just after midnight Eastern time.

The prompt might be a picture, or it might be a list of things to include in a story, or maybe a phrase or a question or something from a “news of the weird” type thing, or a… who knows?

After that, it’s up to you. But if you do use the prompt to write a bit of flash fiction (say, 500 words or so) I’d love to see what you came up with, so comment below with a link to where it is on your blog (or on WattPad or wherever).

(And a pingback to the post here where you found the prompt would be appreciated but isn’t necessary.)

Oh, and this isn’t a contest or anything. It’s just a (hopefully) fun thing for all concerned.

When I wrote Friday’s blog post I was 7455 words below par. I’m now 7440 words below par, which isn’t bad considering that I was working every day, kept up with both blog hops, and was too tired to write anything at all last night. I’ll get a bit more done before I go to work today and then I’m off for two days, so there is still hope.

So, what am I writing now that I’ve tied up a bunch of loose ends for The Academy of the Accord and added stuff to Onyx Sun? Well…

Being so far behind on word count I really didn’t have time to poke through some works in progress, so I wrote a scene that’s been in my head for half of forever. It involves a Minotaur and an Elf Druidess. I wrote their meeting and then just let the thing wander where it wanted.

I’m ending up with a wonderfully fun mess that involves the Elf Druidess (who still needs a name, and who may not be a Druid after all), the Minotaur (whose name is Max, courtesy of a friend of mine), and a Sasquatch named Ghillie (after a ghillie suit).

Oh, and there’s a curse. Which doesn’t affect the Minotaur or the Elf or the Sasquatch. (I’m pretty sure that Ghillie is a guest star for this book only, but you never know.)

(Yes, I’m pretty sure there’s going to be more than one book with the Minotaur and the Elf.)

I have absolutely no idea where this story is going. I’m totally pantsing the whole thing and having a blast with it.

Will I finish it? Yes, eventually. It’s going to be a back burner project and low priority because it’s a total mess because I’m making it up as I go so it’s jumping back and forth a lot. But someday, when The Academy of the Accord is done, and the rest of the stories in the Song and Sword universe are done, and The Other Mages trilogy is done, and the sequel to Sanguine is done, and the sequel (and a prequel and maybe a side story) for Onyx Sun are done, and I finish a few other things that are patiently waiting for me to get back to them:

Hedge HouseDisturbed Magic (which might have to be a trilogy)The Trilogy That Still Doesn’t Have A NameSea WitchThe Lost HouseThe Sword and the Shield

Posting from Book 7 of The Academy of the Accord this month. Things are a bit tricky since some of this book runs concurrently with the end of Book 5 (and the start of Book 6) but focuses on a different student: Brythel. Like Yhonshel, Bry is a Tuanae, both wizard and Warder, and Yhonshel is his mentor and partner – they share a bond like that of a bonded wizard and Warder pair.

This hasn’t been edited yet so just pretend it’s good, okay?

Brythel (age 14 or 15 – I need to get a timeline together) went home for winter break. Unfortunately, his father caught him playing his lute (not a “manly” enough activity to suit him) and beat him severely. Brythel is trying to get home to the academy.

Picking up from last week with Brythel collapsed in a cold wet heap on the floor of the bathhouse.

“Are you all right? What happened?”

The voice intruded on Brythel’s stupor and he forced himself to look up, struggling to focus on the sound and on the unruly mess of red hair.

“Drae,” he rasped out. “I’m sorry, Drae. So sorry…”

“Brythel?” Draethlen dropped to his knees and helped him sit up. “What happened?”

“Bry,” Draethlen cradled his friend against him, soothing him; even through the cold wetness of his uniform he could feel the feverish heat of Brythel’s body. “It’s all right, Bry. You’re going to be all right.”

“No. I’m going to die. I know that. But I wanted – wanted to do it here, where I had friends. In the orchard, where we taught Jorsen to dance…” His voice was fading and Draethlen felt his heart breaking. “I… I was happy there…”

“I’m going to go get help,” Draethlen said. “I’ll be right back.”

“No. Don’t…don’t leave me. Please, Drae. Stay with me. T-take me to the orchard. Please.” Brythel grabbed his arms. “I tried to get there myself, but I couldn’t. I was so cold so I came here to get warm first. Please, stay with me.”

Want to read more snippets from some really great authors?
Check out Sunday Snippets on Face Book.

Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, bloggers, and readers to gather once a week and share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!). Check out all the other awesome snippets by clicking on the picture above.

Posting from Onyx Sun, a science fiction novel that is currently in revision and which I’m hoping to publish next month. (Those of you who participate in Sunday Snippets may remember parts of this.)

Taliya’s mother has said that she will find someone else, someone “more suitable” than the lover she has sold into slavery.

There may or may not be some creative punctuation involved in the following text.

“Someone…” Taliya stared at her as anger began to build. “Unlike you, Mother, I cannot turn my emotions on and off. I can’t just go out and find someone else to replace the person I love. People are not interchangeable.” She paused, locking eyes with her mother. “Who did you sell her to? What slave house?”

“What does it matter?”

“It matters because I want her back.” Taliya’s voice was hard and cold. “Now, you can tell me who you sold her to, or I can contact Slave Registration and find out. And let word get out that not only did you go against Grandmother’s policy but that you sold her without due process.”

Just for a moment Maureena paled and Taliya smiled inwardly. Taliya didn’t care about status, but Maureena did, and would not risk a scandal that would cause her to lose face with the other Heads of Houses.

In the Good News Department, I think I am finished with stuff that needs to be added into books. (Well, except for an odd epilogue or two.)

Onyx Sun got two additional scenes and a new ending. It’s printed, and waiting for me to do another edit and figure out where those two scenes are going to go, and how to slip the new ending into place.

The Academy of the Accord got a new scene for Book One. (It was supposed to be about seasickness, but somehow ended up involving pirates. Don’t ask.) I now have to figure out how to get it to tie into Book Twelve, which mentions Vinadi curing someone’s seasickness and Vinadi saying, “It was a minor thing.” The pirates have made it not such a minor thing now and that kind of messes up that whole conversation in Book Twelve. Ah, well, I’m sure there will be other changes by the time I get that far.

Also in The Academy of the Accord news, Book Nine’s ending has been written, and Books Six and Seven have been printed. Slowly but surely it’s coming together.

In the Not So Good News Department, I am 7455 words below par for Camp. Of course, by the time I do my 750words I’ll be around 6700 words below par, which is better off than I was when I started yesterday, so I am gaining ground.

Welcome to Wednesday Words! Every Wednesday I will post some sort of prompt for a flash fiction piece. The prompt will go live just after midnight Eastern time.

The prompt might be a picture, or it might be a list of things to include in a story, or maybe a phrase or a question or something from a “news of the weird” type thing, or a… who knows?

After that, it’s up to you. But if you do use the prompt to write a bit of flash fiction (say, 500 words or so) I’d love to see what you came up with, so comment below with a link to where it is on your blog (or on WattPad or wherever).

(And a pingback to the post here where you found the prompt would be appreciated but isn’t necessary.)

Oh, and this isn’t a contest or anything. It’s just a (hopefully) fun thing for all concerned.

So much for not falling too far behind on word count over the weekend. As of this writing I am exactly 8000 words below par and need to write 2070 words per day to finish on time.

What happened? you ask.

Well, it’s a long story…

Friday morning, my roommate and I left the house about 10:30 and except for a quick stop to change clothes didn’t get home until about 1:30 Saturday morning.

While we were at lunch Sue got a call from work asking if she could come in early because the daylight charge nurse’s mother was in the hospital with frighteningly low blood counts. She said yes but she couldn’t be there until 2:00. (Meanwhile there were three other RNs in the building but they were all administration and, oh, no, they couldn’t be charge for 4 hours or so!)

We’d dropped my car off at the garage for its inspection Thursday night (it passed!) and there was no way we could get out there in time to get it so I had to go in early too.

(Which turned out to be a good thing, so read on.)

Meanwhile the guy doing the inspection called because he couldn’t find my insurance info or current registration. The insurance info was in the envelope with the key (verified that they had it) but the registration was another story. I had pulled an envelope out of my glove box with all kinds of old papers in it and I thought maybe I’d accidentally thrown it away.

So anyhow, since I had an hour to kill before I could clock in, I walked down to the Notary Express for a new registration card. It would be $16 but they only take cash or checks, neither of which I had on me, so I walked to the bank and took out $60 (which is the “fast cash” at that bank) and was charged an extra $3 because it’s not my bank, and an extra $2.50 from my bank for using a different bank. (Mine doesn’t have a branch in town.)

Back to the Notary Express. She asked to verify my address and I said that the P.O. Box wasn’t in use anymore and she said, “Great! I’ll enter this as a change of address and get you a new card for $5.”

But for some reason it wouldn’t print. She finally figured out that it wouldn’t print because my registration had expired (I got nothing from PennDoT about it being due). She could renew it (we’re now at $46.00) but needed my insurance information which was with my car in another town.

So I called the insurance company, waded through seven thousand some prompts of pressing this, that, and the other, and finally got the documents faxed to her. She faxed them and the new registration to the garage, I verified that they had it and I went to work.

Got a call from the garage. They needed my insurance and registration. I told them that it had been faxed and they had it. Nope. Needed it. Refaxed it from work. Didn’t come through right. Faxed it again.

Finally! All’s clear to get my car after work.

Except… Sue had to work late because she was the charge nurse, had two admissions, and two residents fell and one of them had to be sent out to the hospital.

So, it was almost 1:00 before we got out of there. We picked up my car and came home and I gave the boys (my rats) their treats, fed them, refilled their water bottles, and went to bed.

Not one word written on Friday.

Nothing written Saturday either, trying to keep up with blog hops.

Managed to get about 912 words written on Sunday before work by ignoring the blog hops and doing them when I got home from work. Probably would have gotten more written but got bogged down wondering if the abdominal aorta could be sliced open by a sword. (Probably not – it would take a stab not a slash – so I’m going to have to fix the fight scene a little.)

On a brighter note, the fight scene and most of the aftermath is done. Just need a couple more scenes and I can leave this book (Book 9 of The Academy of the Accord) alone for a few months until I get to edit it and sort out the issue of who is doing what where when.

Anyhow, once this is finished I have one short scene to write for Book 1 and then it’s all editing. Mostly.

I’m hoping to finish both before and/or after work today so I can get everything printed on Tuesday, but I might have to make a trip to the garage when I wake up. I think they still have the extra key to my car… (And that’s a half hour I haven’t budgeted for…)